Kuban activist claims being prosecuted for criticizing Vladimir Putin

An administrative case on insulting of Vladimir Putin by Lev Gyammer, the coordinator of the Navalny's office in Krasnodar, has been transferred to court. Lev Gyammer posted a video against amendments to the Constitution of Russia. When challenging the position of the law enforcement bodies, an advocate of the coordinator of the Navalny's office in Krasnodar noted that his client showed good manners while criticizing the Russian President.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that law enforcers demanded from Lev Gyammer, the coordinator of the Navalny's office in Krasnodar, to come to a police station for a conversation concerning a video with criticism of President Putin posted on the social network.

Today, Lev Gyammer has insisted on arriving at the police station being accompanied by his advocate.

An administrative case on insulting of the power has been instituted against Lev Gyammer. The case has already been sent to court.

The video, which caused the discontent of the law enforcement bodies, was posted in March, Lev Gyammer said. "The video was about amendments [to the Constitution]. After [State Duma member Valentina] Tereshkova proposed 'resetting to zero' the number of presidential terms and said that Vladimir Putin should remain the President of Russia, I recorded the video to express my emotions, and I voiced my opinion in it," said Lev Gyammer. The activist explained that in his video, he was calling on people for voting against the constitutional amendments.

The law enforcement bodies considered that the video contained insults addressed to the President of Russia and expressed disrespect for society, the state, and state symbols in a bad manner.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed by advocate Mikhail Benyash that Lev Gyammer faces a fine of 30,000 to 100,000 roubles. "From the legal point of view, I do not see bad manners in those statements," stated the advocate while commenting on the content of the video posted on the social network by Lev Gyammer.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 7, 2020 at 05:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.